


Some Things in Life

by okemmelie



Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Angst, F/M, Pining, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:53:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23740375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/okemmelie/pseuds/okemmelie
Summary: Some things in life never change. For Ted, apparently that thing is the fact that he's in love with Charlotte. Unfortunately for Ted, the thing that never seems to change for Charlotte is that she's in love with Sam.
Relationships: Charlotte/Ted (The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 30





	Some Things in Life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [twinksanta](https://archiveofourown.org/users/twinksanta/gifts).



> both stef and hollis gave me permission to do this (in fact, this is me finally finishing a prompt hollis sent me who knows how long ago klsdfjsdk)

Some things in life never change.

Ted’s in high school and there’s this girl he can’t get out of his head. She’s got this beautiful auburn hair that she always styles with a bow and it’s absolutely adorable in every single way. Honestly, a lot of things about her are absolutely adorable in every single way. Like the way she mindlessly plays with her hair when she’s talking, especially in front of class but also just in one on one conversations. Or the way her eyes seem to almost sparkle when she talks about something she’s passionate about.

High school fucking sucks, but at least he has his best friends, Sam and Gerald, to keep him company (and to complain to about how much he likes Charlotte, which he does a lot (well, he doesn’t always complain, sometimes he just talks about her to them and they listen or make fun of him or both)). And Charlotte. He has Charlotte as well.

It’s spring break and a bunch of people from Sycamore are down by the water. Some people (like Sam) are playing volleyball and others (like Ted and Charlotte) are sitting a bit to the side, watching it play out.

Charlotte’s sitting on the same beach towel as Ted. She’s wearing an almost plain white t-shirt, but one of those that has a print if you pull down the breast pocket, which Charlotte does (it’s a cat and it’s flipping him off (Charlotte tells him that she made her older cousin buy it for her and that her parents still don’t know (and honestly, it’s a bit tacky, but she loves it so he loves it too))).

There’s a lot of things Ted wishes he could do. He wishes he could tell her he likes her, but you never tell a girl you like her (it makes you look like an idiot and that’s the last thing he wants). Instead, he wraps an arm around her shoulder and lets her lean against him and lets her put her head on his shoulder and lets her sit there for as long as she wants to, despite the fact that he’s pretty sure that if she just listened a bit harder, she’d be able to hear his heart beat (because boy, is it beating).

“Hey Ted?” She asks after a while, pulling back so she can look at him. The tip of her nose is slightly red and she’s still so close to him, still so fucking pretty, still…  _ her _ . God, she really does insist on making it hard to be Ted, doesn’t she? “Have you ever been into someone?”

Oh. Oh, they’re talking about this. Right now. Right when Charlotte’s been sitting by his side. He can always feel his cheeks heating up a bit, but he hopes she’ll write it off as being the sun. “Uh, yeah. I guess I have.”

“I… This is a bit embarrassing, but can I tell you something?” She bites her lip and tilts her head down, but manages to still look up at him.

And oh God, oh boy, he’s not sure this is allowed because fuck, she’s so fucking beautiful and what is he supposed to do? He sure doesn’t know, but he tries something anyway. “Of course! You can tell me anything.” He calls Sam and Gerald his best friends and maybe they are, to an extend, because yeah they listen to him talk about girls (and sometimes boys, but they seem to prefer it when he talks about girls, those losers), but Charlotte listens when he talks about anything, so maybe she’s his best friend? He doesn’t know. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that she's here. With him. Willing to tell him something. “I’m always here for you. You should know that by now.”

There’s a smile on her lips and yeah, fuck, okay. She’s really right there, making him fall more and more in love with her every second, isn’t she? Then she reaches for his hand and it doesn’t even make it better when she squeezes it.  _ Fuck _ . “Have you ever met someone and thought there was nothing special about them, only to realize that they’re perhaps the most special person in the entire world?” She asks and he nods, though to be fair, it didn’t take him very long to fall in love with her at all.

“I guess, yeah. I’ve absolutely experienced something like it, at least.” And it’s not a lie. Okay, sure, he always thought she was special (and not the same kind of special as Linda sometimes called Gerald before they started dating, like a real kind of special; a good kind of special), but now he thinks she’s perhaps the most special person in the entire world, so he gets it. He at least kind of gets it.

Charlotte smiles a bit and then looks out past the volleyball court, out over the water. The sun hits her face and but she doesn’t close her eyes, only squints them a bit. It’s both beautiful and adorable, but Ted doesn’t expect any less from her. “I… This is going to sound a bit silly, but please promise me you won’t make fun of me.”

“I promise.” He takes her hand and gives it a little squeeze. It makes her look at him with an even bigger smile and it makes him smile. How could he not?

“There’s.... There’s this guy. He’s incredibly sweet and so,  _ so  _ dreamy. Say… Have you ever been in love, Ted?” She asks, her voice suddenly a lot lower. Ted watches her as she nervously bites down her lower lips and as she turns her face until her eyes once again meets his. “I know you say you’ve been into someone, but have you been in love?”

“Yes.” The word leaves his lips before he’s even able to think them through, before he’s able to decide with himself whether or not it’s even a good idea to say it. But as they’re sitting there on the beach together, all close to each other on the same towel and as Charlotte is looking at him with the biggest, brightest eyes and the most beautiful smile he’s ever seen, there’s nothing else he can say. Nothing else he wants to say either. He’s hopelessly, desperately in love with her and there’s no other way to phrase it.

She nods and her shoulder sinks down a little. She looks much more relaxed now and Ted decides that that’s a good thing. Why wouldn’t it be? He wants her to feel comfortable around him. Then she starts talking. She talks about his beauty. She calls him handsome and tells Ted how she just can’t get enough of looking at him. He’s especially pretty out in the sun, she tells him (and Ted can’t help but notice how  _ he’s  _ out in the sun; how she’s looking at him as she tells him this and how she looks away, her cheeks turning red, as a small smile forms on his lips). She talks about his caring and protective nature; and sure, Ted’s nature isn’t caring or protective, but he’s pretty sure Charlotte doesn’t know that. He’s always caring and protective when it comes to her. She talks about how he always listens to her; about how it sometimes feels like he’s the only one who always listens to her. And Ted listens to her as she tells him about this guy she’s hopelessly, helplessly fallen for, just like he listens when she talks about the names she’s thought about for the cats she wants to adopt eventually (Frumpkin and Professor Thaddeus), just like he listens when she talks about her opinions on books about horse girls (they’re severely underrated and he should really get around to reading one so he can engage in conversation about them with her) and just like he always listens to everything she tells him at anytime, because there’s no one else he cares so deeply about and no one else's thoughts and opinions he’d rather memorize and keep track of.

When she gets to the end of her rant, Ted’s almost certain it has to be him. Who else could it be? She even says he’s the reason she came to the water today and she’s been sitting on this towel with him all day. So he tries something new, something that’s not really in his wheelhouse, but something he’s willing to try out because he’s just so certain (and so hopeful). He tries to be brave. “So who is this mystery guy?”

She blushes again and oh fuck, it’s the cutest thing he’s ever seen. She looks out past the volleyball field and to the water again, avoiding his gaze as she takes a deep breath. “I… It’s Sam. And I– I know you two are very good friends–”

“Best friends,” Ted shoots in. Casually, of course. Because he’s casual. The most casual person on the planet, in fact. And he needs Charlotte to know that, because there’s literally no way he’s showing even the slightest sign of hurt or disappointment.

She nods, seemingly noticing nothing. “ _ Best friends,  _ of course. But please don’t tell him? I don’t think he likes me and I’d hate for him to find out, but… I trust you. And I guess it’s nice to finally have told someone.”

A smile forms on Ted’s lips. It’s not exactly a happy smile (in fact, Ted would say he’s quite far from happy), but it’s not anywhere near sad either. It’s just content and on the warmer side, but that’s just him faking it because he doesn’t want Charlotte to think badly of him (or worse; think he’s  _ jealous  _ of Sam). “I meant it when I said I’d always be here for you, you know? You can always talk to me, alright?”

Charlotte leans against him again and he slides his arm right back around her shoulder. It’s nice, sitting with her like this, but it’s not nice in a nice way. He decides right then and there that he’s going to get over Charlotte Dewitt, if it’s the last thing he does.

Ted’s in high school and his senior prom is coming up. It means Sam’s and Gerald’s senior proms are coming up as well. It means Charlotte’s senior prom is coming up as well. Gerald’s not going, however, because his girlfriend, Linda Hidgens, goes to Hatchetfield High and she can’t come (Gerald doesn’t want to go without her, but Ted’s not sure it’s because he actually doesn’t want to or because she doesn’t want him to; Linda can be a lot so he wouldn’t put pulling something like that past her). Sam’s going with Delilah, some cheerleader he’s currently kinda seeing (they’re just sleeping together, but Ted recognizes the look on her face; she’s in love with Sam, just like every other girl in this fucking school apparently).

And Charlotte? Well, Charlotte is still desperately in love with Sam. Ted knows this, because she also still has that look on her face. He also knows because she keeps telling Ted about it. He  _ also  _ knows because somethings in life never change and apparently, one of those things seems to be the fact that Ted’s chest continues to ache whenever she talks about Sam like that, seems to be the fact that he’s still hopelessly in love with her. Which sucks. He’s so tired of loving someone who doesn’t love him back, but at least he loves Charlotte. She feels worth it. Or maybe he’s just telling himself that because he failed the whole not being in love with her plan, but whatever.

Sometimes, Ted feels thankful he has friends outside of Gerald and Sam and Charlotte. Because it means he has someone else to ask to prom (as a friend, of course) and it means he has an excuse to avoid both of his two worst nightmares (because ‘worst nightmare’ is a totally legit way to describe his best friend and the girl he’s desperately in love with, right?). He asks Paul to go to prom with him. Paul, of course, says no, but then Ted gives him a sob story about Charlotte and Paul ends up saying yes. Only as friends, though. Ted supposes he can live with that.

Especially because Charlotte, when she finds out Sam is going with Delilah, asks Ted if he’ll go to prom with her. “Obviously I would have loved to go with Sam, you know how I feel about him. But you’re my closest friend. And there’s nothing that’d make me happier right now than getting to spend my prom night with you.”

Paul probably didn’t really want to go anyway, Ted tells himself as he says yes to go to prom with Charlotte.

A couple of days later, he promposes to her. She says he didn’t have to, they already had plans to go together, and he tells her he knows she’d rather be going with Sam, but that she still deserves the full prom experience even if it’s not exactly what she wanted. It makes her cry, but she tells him it’s tears of happiness as she sobs into his shoulders. She hugs him tightly and she keeps him in her embrace for a long time and Ted kind of forgets to breathe, but it’s alright because Charlotte’s in his arms and she’s happy. Because of something he did.

The sight of Charlotte in her prom dress makes Ted forget to breathe again. Her being breathtaking shouldn’t really come as a surprise to him at this point. He spends the night trying his best to act as if he isn’t desperately in love with her, but it’s hard because she dances with him and even engages when he slips up and accidentally flirts with her (well, compliments her and hopes she somehow changes her mind and decides to be in love with him instead, but isn’t that the same thing?).

She kisses him goodnight when the night is over. It’s a kiss on the cheek, sure, but it’s a kiss nevertheless. It feels like it’s burning and Ted falls asleep with a smile on his face and his hand gently resting over the spot where her lips touched his skin.

Ted doesn’t see Charlotte for a few years, because high school ends and she goes off to college. He stays in Hatchetfield, gets a job at a local bar and fucks his way out of any memory of the love he felt for Charlotte Dewitt.

And then she returns and Ted once again remembers that some things never change. Because he falls in love with her. And she falls in love with Sam. Some things, however, do change. This time, Sam falls for Charlotte as well and he puts a ring on her finger. They invite Ted to the wedding.

He considers saying yes, considers letting himself continue hurting.

But he’s smarter. Or at least he wants to be. So he declines and he lets go. Or at least he decides to try letting go and for real this time. He’s not gonna come between Charlotte and Sam, not anymore, because he does truly want Charlotte to be happy. And maybe one day he wants to be happy himself, but that’s not going to be with her and he’s finally starting to realize that.

Well. He tries to decline anyway. But then as he’s on the way to mail his reply to them, he runs into Charlotte and there’s a big smile on her face and he realizes that he has to stop being a big baby and just fucking get through it. He changes his reply.

And then he changes his mind again on the day of the wedding. He tells Gerald that he’s sick and he stays in his bed all day (that’s a lie, he leaves it around 3pm to go drink red wine and watch Dancing With The Stars on the couch; somewhere along the way, he blocks Charlotte’s number and decides his life is better now).

Charlotte shows up on his doorstep a few weeks later. There’s tears running down her face and it’s quite possibly the most heartbreaking thing Ted’s ever seen. “Why?”

Ted raises an eyebrow. His expression is bored, bordering cold. “Why what?”

“You said you’d always be there for me… so how did this happen? Why weren’t you there? Why haven’t you answered my calls? Why… just  _ why? _ ”

Ted shrugs. He doesn’t have a good answer, so he decides to say nothing.

It’s better that way.

And eventually, Charlotte understands. Or at least she shakes his head, turns around and walks away.

Ted wants to say he doesn’t care, but some things never change and even watching her walk away, he loves her. God, he wishes he didn’t love her.

**Author's Note:**

> for those who read accidental attachment: the parts of this fic that takes place for high school charted? absolutely compatible with that whole universe. in fact this is kinda a prequel, except the wedding chapter goes differently, as you've probably experienced???? idk! i just write things lksdfs


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